Flooding concerns show up in numbers

July 03, 2009|By Connie Sieh Groop, Farm Forum Editor

With the way that the 4th of July falls this year, it sounds like a lot of people are gearing up to enjoy the time off and have a lot of fun. Some farmers/ranchers will still be in the fields putting up hay. You never want to say that you've had too much rain but, it has been a challenge for some. In one of the conversations I had, one farmer told me he had a neighbor with 1,100 acres and was only able to plant about 100 of it. In areas east and north of us, there will be a lot of prevent plant acres. The acreage reports that came out indicated that South Dakota's corn acres will be up 5 percent compared to last year while North Dakota will be down 25 percent. And other numbers for North Dakota aren't good. The report released Tuesday says North Dakota had the biggest decline among the states in planted acres of all principal crops - down 2.1 million acres from last year. That was a 9 percent drop, and it accounted for more than half of the nationwide decline of 3.9 million acres. Record flooding across North Dakota this spring made for a tough planting season for farmers. Corn appears to have taken the biggest hit - with acres falling 25 percent. That was the biggest drop in the nation. The Agriculture Department's Risk Management Agency has said the flooding in eastern North Dakota could lead to a situation similar to 1997, when flooding left hundreds of thousands of acres unplanted. Final ''prevented planting'' numbers won't be known until September at the earliest. The most surprising number in these reports was the estimated 87 million acres of corn planted in the United States, which was 2.9 million acres more than the average industry estimate and 1.1 million acres more than reported in the March 31 Prospective Plantings report. Makes you wonder what will happen by the harvest time. A little bit of foolishness Last weekend we had a of fun with the “Finn Fest.” Threatening weather moved some events moved indoors, including the “Miss Finn“ contest and delayed the “fire on the water” until Saturday night. As a light-hearted way to move into the holiday weekend, here is some information that was forwarded to me. It gives you something to laugh about, even if not all of it is true. Some “facts“ about the 1500s: Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell so brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married. Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the first clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children - last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the bath water." Houses had thatched roofs, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the dogs, cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs." There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house, that posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could really mess up your clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence. Whether working or vacationing, enjoy your weekend!